Always
by Amelia89
Summary: LUCIAN one shot. I've had this idea knocking about my head for a while so I thought I would write it down whilst it was still fresh. No offence meant to anybody.


**I've had this story idea knocking about in my head for a while now and it refuses to go away. I was going to leave it there until I've finished In These Arms but decided instead to make it into a one-shot whilst it is still fresh.**

**I know many people think that Lucy broke Ian's heart, but what if she didn't. What if it was the other way around and Ian broke Lucy's heart.**

**Lucy's BIG revelation was that she's presenting the Much Music Awards? That was it? I'm not going to change In These Arms to show this as I prefer the idea that she is bringing out a country album.**

**Lucy/Ian dating other people I respect that but do just wish they'd see what millions of others see and get together.**

**Oh and is it just me or was there absolutely no connection between Ian and Sophia in the video of them leaving Lucy's birthday party? They were standing apart; there was distance between them as they crossed the road. Strange. **

**I know that this quote has been mentioned a lot lately but I was reading an article about Miley Cyrus' engagement and there was a quote in there from Liam Hemsworth about their relationship. I'm going to put it here simply because I think it pretty much says it all: **

"_**When you start, you want to be professional, but when you're filming those scenes with someone and pretending to love them, you're not human if you don't feel something."**_

**This is a Lucian story – Lucy and Ian so if that's not your thing don't read.**

* * *

Ian Harding rubbed a hand over his stubble and looked up from the script he's been reading intently for the last five minutes. He glanced towards the seat to his left where his co-star Lucy Hale was sitting; she was within touching distance but might as well have been in another state. Her iPhone was in her hand and she was typing away furiously, this was how it had been since they'd returned to work in April. If she wasn't filming the phone was either attached firmly to her ear or she had her headphones on and was texting away. She stopped typing and moved the phone to her left hand; she picked up a yellow highlighter with her right hand and turned her attention to her script.

He pulled his Red Sox cap lower on his head and picked up his bottle of water, Lucy's phone beeped and he watched as her entire face lit up in a smile. He closed his eyes, shook his head and looked back down towards his script trying to stop the jealousy that was surging through his body. He knew he had no right to feel jealous of her relationship with Chris Zylka. He hadn't felt this jealous when she'd been dating Alex Marshall the previous year, but then he'd still had a relationship with her then, they'd been best friends no question about it. Alex didn't have a problem with them spending time together on or off set. It was blatantly obvious that Chris _did _have a problem with this and as a result Lucy was pushing him away. Since Chris had returned to LA after his show had wrapped they barely spoke anymore.

He rubbed his eyes wearily and sighed, he only had himself to blame.

~FLASHBACK~

_**June 2010**_

"Thank you for coming," Lucy said to him her arms draped loosely around his neck as they swayed to the music, "I know that this isn't really your thing so it means a lot to me that you did."

Ian smiled and brought a hand up to her cheek stroking it gently. "It's your twenty first birthday," he replied, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Lucy pressed her cheek into his hand, as she ran her own fingers through the hairs on the back of his head. They'd been attracted to each other from their first audition together but hadn't acted on it, Lucy was getting over her first heartbreak and Ian had wanted to concentrate on his career. They stared at each other for a few moments before tentatively moving in for a kiss. It was chaste at first, both wanting to gauge the others reaction and when it became obvious that they both wanted this they deepened it, their tongues twining together. They pulled apart breathlessly and both cautiously looked around suddenly remembering that they were surrounded by Lucy's family, friends and their co-stars. Thankfully it appeared that nobody had seen them. Lucy removed her hands from his neck and grabbed one of his hands, she led him to a dark deserted corner of the club that had been hired for her party and turned back towards him, she licked her lips nervously and Ian smiled before leaning down to kiss her again. He pushed her against the wall and pressed his body against her. They pulled apart breathlessly long moments later, neither sure exactly how much time had passed they made sure they still looked presentable and headed back towards the rest of the guests.

"We'll see you tomorrow for lunch okay sweetie?" Julie said to her daughter as they waited for the cab to the hotel. Lucy's cramped one-bedroom apartment was way too small for them all to stay in. Lucy nodded and kissed her mom on the cheek, "Yes Momma," she replied smiling, "and thank you so much for tonight."

"See you tomorrow sis," Maggie said wrapping her arms around her little sister, "I can't believe my baby sister is 21, I feel so old."

Lucy laughed, "That's because you _are _old."

Lewis, Maggie's boyfriend hugged her next followed by her stepdad. Their cab arrived and every one climbed in, "Ian," Julie said, "You'll make sure she gets home safely won't you?"

Ian nodded and smiled, "Of course."

"Thank you," Julie replied, "it's just I think most of her friends are a little drunk and she's still my baby girl."

"I'll get her home safely," he said smiling again as she wrapped her arms around his neck in thanks.

The cab pulled away from the side and Lucy turned to face Ian, she stood on her tip-toes moved her mouth towards his ear, "Take me to your place," she whispered seductively before gently biting on his earlobe.

He did and it was amazing, they fitted together perfectly. They finally succumbed to sleep tangled together in a sweaty heap.

When Ian woke the next morning and glanced towards a still sleeping Lucy she was facing him, her mouth parted slightly. He sighed and looked away, it suddenly hit him he couldn't do this. As wonderful as the previous night and earlier in the morning had been he knew he didn't want to risk ruining the friendship he and Lucy shared. What if they broke up and couldn't work together? The show had only just started airing and they weren't even sure if it would be picked up. Ian didn't want to ruin what should be a really enjoyable time because he'd gotten involved with a co-star. He also knew that Lucy was open about who she was dating, when he'd gotten the job he had researched her to find out a bit more about her – he liked to know who he would be working with – there had been a lot of photos of her with her ex-boyfriend. Ian was a lot more reserved. If the show did get picked up, and he was sure that it would it would be inevitable that any relationship they had would become public knowledge. He wasn't sure if he could handle that.

Lucy shifted beside him and he turned to face her once again, watching as her eyelids fluttered and her eyes opened slowly.

"Hey," she whispered quietly, and noticing the look of worry on Ian's face she asked, "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, and looked away briefly. Lucy sat up in the bed, pulling the bedcovers over her naked body. "You regret what we did?" she asked him quietly.

He shook his head again and looked towards her, "Not at all," he replied bringing a hand up to gently caress her cheek. "I'm not sure how to say this without it sounding like I took advantage of you last night."

Lucy shook her head, "I'm the one who asked you to bring me here Ian."

He nodded, "Luce, I'm not sure if us getting involved right now is a good thing…."

She looked down towards the bedcovers and when she looked back up he could see the hurt and disappointment in her eyes. He felt horrible.

"You're right," she said her voice wavering slightly; "it's not the right time but I don't regret what happened."

Ian smiled, "I don't either. I hope this won't ruin our friendship…"

Lucy looked down again and when she looked back up this time her eyes betrayed nothing about how she was feeling, "It won't. We won't let it."

~END FLASHBACK~

Thankfully their relationship was unaltered and things continued as normal which Ian was pleased about, but he broke Lucy's heart a second time when he accidently revealed that he had dinner plans with his girlfriend. Sophia was an old college friend, they'd been on a few dates back then but nothing had ever come of it but they had recently bumped into each other and things had picked up again. It had been an attempt to get his mind off Lucy, but he'd soon realised that they had a lot in common. Lucy had looked away briefly and he could've swore he saw tears form in her eyes, she looked back at him smiled and told him she was happy for him before looking back down towards her laptop.

She'd met Alex and he'd felt a pang of jealousy. But now every single time she smiled at a text message or tweeted a photo of Chris he felt like punching something and he soon realised that it was because he was and always had been head over heels in love with her. Her actions now were breaking his heart just like he had done to hers two years earlier. He would settle for just being her friend, ultimately he just wanted her to be happy but he wasn't even getting that at the moment.

He had broken up with Sophia over a month ago, they had grown apart and a part of him knew that his feelings for Lucy had something to do with this. Constantly comparing your girlfriend to somebody else did not make for a healthy relationship. He had only shared this information with Keegan, in the past he and Lucy had discussed these things with each other but not anymore, and especially not since Chris came back to LA full time. He wondered whether it was Lucy who had decided to keep her distance from him or whether it was the older man telling her to stay away. He'd noticed that she still hung around Keegan and Julian; did Chris see him as a threat? Did he know about what happened on Lucy's 21st?

He took another long drink of his water and stood up; he needed to get some air. He walked out to the back lot and sat down on one of the many chairs dotted around there; it was pretty much empty here so he knew he wouldn't be bothered, he took his hat off and ran his fingers through his messy hair.

* * *

Twenty minutes later he walked back into the room and took his seat next to Lucy, she didn't even glance up from her phone. He spotted Holly watching them out the corner of his eye; she shook her head sadly and looked down towards her script.

It was a few days later when Holly cornered him, "Goose still ignoring you?" she asked him. She'd noticed the distance between them too, everybody had.

Ian sighed and shook his head, "Not ignoring exactly, just not being…"

"Not being Lucy?" Holly answered for him.

Ian nodded, that was exactly it. Lucy wasn't being Lucy. She was normally so vivacious but the past few weeks she'd been quiet, especially where Ian was concerned, she had brief conversations with other people but mainly she was on her phone.

"I'll speak to her," Holly said.

Ian shook his head, "Holly don't," he replied, "I'm not sure that's…"

Holly raised her hand to shush him and he stopped talking. "It's not just you she's being distant with Rookie. I feel like since he moved back here she's pulling away from us all."

_The following week_

Lucy didn't lift her head from the book in front of her, but she turned it ever so slightly so that she could look at the man sitting next to her. She chewed gently on her lower lip as she took in his perfect bone structure, his strong yet gentle arms, she smiled at the way his brow was furrowed in concentration as he read his book.

She looked back towards her own book and closed her eyes, willing the tears not to come and ruin her freshly applied make-up.

The table read the previous week had been difficult, as usual they'd been seated next to each other and she had gone out of her way to ignore him. It wasn't that she wanted to it was just that her boyfriend Chris had a jealous side and anything related to Ian usually caused tension between the two of them and she didn't want to do anything to antagonise him. He'd been bad enough when he had watched some Ezria scenes, enquiring as to why they always used tongue. Lucy had told him that they'd wanted the relationship to seem real and he'd bought it, but the truth was that for those few minutes that they were kissing on screen she could almost pretend that it was real. It was the Ustream, Punk'd, and the video she had tweeted of Ian making her a juice and even the 'Keeganing' photos had really annoyed him. She knew that ignoring Ian was a bit extreme, but the problem was Chris called her regularly throughout the day and if he heard Ian's voice in the background she knew they'd get into an argument once she got home. Their argument after Punk'd had aired had been particularly bad, the chemistry between her and Ian was palpable, it literally oozed through the screen and it didn't take a genius to work out that they were obviously attracted to each other. The tweets afterwards enquiring as to whether they were actually a couple had irritated him even further as had the ones between her and Ian. She had seen Ian leave the table read the previous week and it had taken all her strength to not just run out after him and apologise, she knew that her treatment of him was hurting him and that in turn was hurting her. The last thing she ever wanted to do was hurt Ian. She put her bookmark into her book and turned back towards Ian, "Are you attempting to finish Ulysses?" she asked referring to the book mentioned in the first Ezria scene they had shot this season.

She saw his lips curl into a smile and he looked up towards her, "I think I may be one of few people that have."

Of course he had, smart funny, caring and breathtakingly beautiful Ian was the perfect package.

Chris was the complete opposite of Ian; he'd frowned when he'd seen that she had a book to read on the plane during their recent trip to Florida and said he didn't understand why people read books when they could just wait for the movie. His interest in politics was none existent as he didn't feel a lot of the issues being discussed concerned him and he smoked which Lucy hated. He was the complete opposite of any of her previous boyfriends and Ian looks wise too and she knew that this was a conscious choice.

Her last relationship with Alex Marshall had ended the previous year, after he had admitted to kissing someone else. Surprisingly she hadn't been as upset about this as she had been when she had discovered David Henrie had cheated on her despite the fact that her feelings for Alex were undoubtedly stronger. The truth was she felt as though _she _had been cheating on Alex; although they hadn't been intimate since her birthday emotionally she was a lot closer to Ian than she was to anybody and in her mind that was just as bad.

They'd eased back into their usual banter and Lucy felt her heart swell, she had missed this the past few weeks. She took a photo of him and tweeted it with intro '50 Shades of Harding' screw the fact that Chris would undoubtedly text her asking what she was doing.

* * *

He'd been surprised the following week when she had asked him if he would be able to attend her birthday party, but then he knew that she had asked other cast members too. He'd said yes, knowing that there would be enough people there for him to be able to slope out if he needed too.

He'd been right, the restaurant was extremely busy when he'd arrived there slightly late and he'd been able to make his way to his allocated table quickly and without fuss. He'd seen Lucy on the way in, she was with a blonde girl he didn't recognise and Chris was close by. He wasn't sure if she had seen him, but he had no sooner sat down when his phoned buzzed indicating a new text message it was from Lucy: _Thank you so much for coming tonight it really means a lot to me xoxo._

He glanced up from his phone just in time to see her looking towards him, he raised his hand in acknowledgement and she did the same before Chris drew her attention elsewhere.

He stayed through the singing of 'Happy Birthday' and then told the other occupants of his table that he was going to head home, Shay, Ashley, Brendan and Drew had nodded they'd said their goodbyes and he left thankful that he had decided not to drink and that his car was parked right outside.

He got home, kicked off his shoes and poured himself a glass of wine. It was a relatively warm night so he opened the doors that led on to his balcony and took his wine and phone out there with him deciding to answer a few tweets from fans.

Lucy had slipped away from Chris at the end of the evening on the lookout for Ian; she wanted to thank him personally for coming she was disappointed to find that he'd left not long after she had blown out the candles on her cake.

Chris had suggested an impromptu party back at her apartment and she had just been about to say no when Annie had said that it was a brilliant idea. She smiled and reluctantly nodded her head thankful that only a few people seemed to take him up on the offer.

The drinking had continued in earnest once they got back there, but Lucy instead decided to stick to water, she wasn't in the mood to party anymore and truthfully just wanted to go to bed.

She was just walking past the doors that led out to the patio area of the ground floor apartment when she heard Chris's voice coming from outside he was obviously out there smoking.

"You're friends with that Ian guy right?"

She paused to listen, it had to be Julian who he was talking to as he was the only cast member who had come back.

"Yeah I am," she heard Julian reply; "he's a great guy."

She heard Chris exhale, "What's his girlfriend like?"

Lucy frowned, she knew Chris had doubts that Ian even had a girlfriend because it wasn't really public knowledge he thought that it was something she had made up to make him think that Ian wasn't a threat.

"Sophia?" Julian asked, "Yeah she was nice."

Lucy frowned again and leant closer to the open door, was? She wondered.

Chris was obviously wondering the same thing, "Was?"

"Yeah," Julian replied quickly, "They broke up about a month ago I think."

Lucy inhaled and stepped away from the door. Why did she not know this? She glanced around at the rest of the partygoers and when she saw everybody was occupied she grabbed her car keys from the bowl they kept them in on the table and headed silently out of her apartment.

* * *

A part of her knew she shouldn't really be driving, she'd had several cocktails during the night but the adrenaline coursing through her body at the moment had all but sobered her up.

Ian was just finishing his third glass of wine when he heard a loud tapping on his front door he looked at the time on his iPhone, it was a little after 2am. He furrowed his brow wondering who on earth would be at his door at this time. Only four people knew the code to get into his building without the need to alert him that they were there, Sarah, his mom, Sophia and Lucy – he'd given it to her when they'd Ustreamed from there earlier in the year.

He placed his wine glass on the table in front of him and headed towards the door, he'd only opened it slightly when all 5'2" of Lucy pushed passed him and stormed into his apartment.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she shouted turning around to glare at him.

"Tell you what?" Ian asked genuinely confused.

Lucy walked closer to him, "I had to hear it from Julian and not even firsthand he was telling someone else."

"Find out what?" he asked now even more confused. What could Julian possibly know that would have Lucy so angry?

"You and Sophia broke up?"

Ian inhaled and ran his fingers through his hair, ah that he thought. "We did," he replied.

Lucy looked down at the floor and then looked back up to him, her eyes glossy from unshed tears, "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked meekly looking back towards the floor.

Ian shook his head slightly, "Because you didn't ask."

Her head snapped back up, "What? But we tell each other _everything."_

He shook his head again, "Not anymore Luce, we've barely spoken and when we do…"

Lucy nodded sadly, "I'm usually talking about Chris."

Ian stepped closer to her and lifted her chin up with his finger, "I understand that he might be a little bit jealous of us Luce, heaven knows Sophia always was but I don't want to lose you as a friend. Not being able to talk to you and joke around with you is killing me."

Lucy nodded her head, "It's not just his jealousy though."

"What do you mean?" Ian asked gently.

"It's me," Lucy replied her eyes meeting his, "I thought if I pushed you away that I could forget about you but it hasn't worked. It hurts me so much to see you hurting and it hurts even more to not be around you. I miss us."

Ian stared at her silently taking in what she was saying.

"I didn't want another relationship fail because I was pining away over somebody who was off limits," she took a deep breath, "and then I heard Julian say that you'd broken up and…" She licked her lips and stepped closer to Ian her heels making her closer to his height. "Tell me you want me."

She moved closer again, their bodies now touching, her eyes never leaving his, "Tell me you need me."

"Luce," he whispered, "please."

"Tell me," she whispered back inching her mouth closer to his, "please Ian I need you to tell me."

"You're not available," he replied leaning his head back slightly to resist the urge to kiss her.

"I can be," she said as one of her hands moved up to the nape of his neck, "I just need you to say the words."

He licked his lips nervously, "I want you Luce," he replied his fingers gently caressing her cheek; "I need you."

She pressed her lips to his and kissed him, it was tender at first both of them just enjoying the moment, but it quickly heated up their tongues fighting for dominance.

Ian was the first to pull away and Lucy knew why. He wouldn't pursue this whilst she was in a relationship. He took a step back and she nodded, "I have to go home to…" she trailed off knowing he knew what she meant, "but I promise I'll be back."

He nodded too and watched as she walked out of his apartment.

* * *

"Oh my god Luce," Annie said as Lucy walked through the door to their apartment twenty minutes later, "where the hell have you been? We've been worried sick about you."

Chris walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, "Damn it Luce, you just took off," he said, "We've been calling you like crazy. Why haven't you been answering your phone?"

She shook her head, "I didn't take it with me."

Chris frowned, Lucy took her phone everywhere. "Where have you been?"

Lucy glanced towards the crowd of her friends who had now gathered around them, "I um," she looked towards the door leading to her bedroom and then back toward Chris, "can I talk to you in private."

He nodded and walked into the room in front of her. She closed her eyes and slowly followed him in closing the door tightly behind her.

This was going to be hard, she really did like Chris and she didn't want to hurt him but nobody could compare to Ian and now that she knew he felt the same way she did she couldn't continue this relationship

* * *

Ian sighed and put the book he'd been trying to read onto the coffee table in front of him and glanced at the time on his phone. It nearing 4am now and Lucy had left his apartment well over an hour ago. He knew it was about a twenty minute drive to her place, but he couldn't stop the nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. What if she got there and decided that Chris was the one for her after all?

He stood up and walked over to his liquor cabinet and took out a bottle of scotch, he rarely drank the stuff but he thought it might calm him. He had just poured himself a small measure and was about to knock it back when he heard a light tap on his door. He placed the glass on top of the cabinet and walked hesitantly towards the door. He opened it slowly and smiled when he saw Lucy on the other side; she smiled back at him and walked inside. "You on the scotch Harding?" she asked as she spotted the glass resting on the cabinet. "That's not like you."

He chuckled slightly and nodded, "It was supposed to settle my nerves, I wasn't sure if you'd come back."

Lucy closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. "I promised didn't I?" she replied as she stood on her tiptoes and brushed her nose against his gently.

"I know," he said, "I just…" she pressed a finger to his mouth to shush him.

"It's always been you Ian, from the moment you walked into that audition room it's always been you."

He smiled and slowly moved his lips towards hers for a slow kiss. Hopefully there would be many, many more to come.

The End

* * *

**So there it is...**

**Please review.**

**Amelia xx**


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